Hanging Around
by Agatha2460
Summary: A slip on the roof while processing evidence means Sara gets the ribbing of her life. Nick/Sara.


A 'what if' ficlet for Up in Smoke. Constructive criticism appreciated. Enjoy.

* * *

Sara clung on for all she was worth. Her fingers were slowly going white and numb as she continued to cling to the guttering. She didn't care that the harness was still holding her up for now, it was unnerving having your life depend on whether a piece of string can hold you up.

It wasn't like she hadn't been on a roof before and she knew all the safety precautions that needed to be taken. Despite that though, she had slipped on the roof and got her line caught in the tiling where it was firmly jammed. Whenever she moved, the line rubbed against the tiles causing it to slowly fray; as they found out when Nick first went on the roof to pull her back up to safety.

The fire department had been called out and Nick had gone on the roof to see how Sara was doing and to reassure her.

As Sara tried to reach for her torch, ready to throw it to the floor and get rid of some weight, the rope suddenly shifted and Sara dropped a few inches causing her to scream.

"Nick!"

"I'm right here Sara. Don't worry, there coming," Nick tried to comfort her as he shifted his weight slowly towards the edge of the roof to get a little closer.

"They won't get here in time… Nick, pull me up? Please" her eyes pleaded with him to at least try and pull her up despite it being told already that it would put her in more danger than she was already in.

Sara could see the line holding her slowly separating and fraying as it became thinner and thinner. She could hear the sound of sirens as they pulled up in the front of the house. Within a matter of minutes there was a group of about four fire men below her holding some sort of a white ring – it looked much like a mini trampoline.

"Nick? What are they doing? Why don't they have one of those lift things they use on the street lamps?" Sara fidgeted awkwardly as she spoke. Just as she was going to speak again a faint cracking noise rang in her ears. Before she could do anything to support herself, the guttering had cracked under the strain of the line and come off the house leaving Sara to fall back and drop another few inches and let out a yelp.

Nick sprung into action and slid the remaining way to the edge of the roof putting his arms over the side, "Sara, take my hands."

She grabbed them immediately as the line withered down to its last few strands. The men below her started scrabbling as the need to get her down safely became more intense. One of them called up to her,

"Sara, we're going to need to stay calm. Are you calm?"

Muttering a few choice words under her breath she called back, "Would you be calm if you were me right now?"

The man ignored the comment and continued, "Sara, we can't get a ladder to you safely at this point. We're going to need to hold on for a few more seconds so we can get the rescue trampoline in place."

"I am not going to let go!" Sara looked up at Nick with that determined Sidle glare he had become accustomed to when she flat out refused to do something, "they can't make me let go, they'll just have to get a ladder up here."

Nick raised his eyebrows and smirked slightly.

As if reading his mind, Sara started shaking her head, "Nick, no. You are not letting me go."

"Do you want to get down from here or not?"

"You are not letting me go!"

Nick couldn't help but laugh a little; she was so damn cute when she got angry.

On the ground they had now got the rescue trampoline in place with 4 firemen, Warrick, Greg and Grissom all holding on to it. One of the firefighters who were standing to the side of the trampoline looked up at Nick and gave him the thumbs up as they all looked up expectantly waiting for Sara to land safely on the trampoline.

"I'll buy you dinner if you do this," Nick had given up trying to persuade her and was now onto bribery.

Sara was having none of this. She clasped his wrists with all the strength she could muster in an effort to stop the inevitable.

"Sorry Sara," Nick didn't look the least bit sorry as his grin spread ear to ear and he loosened his grip on her wrists.

"Nick! Don't you…" before she could finish her sentence she lost her grip and fell, snapping what little there was left of her line, before landing in the white safety net below.

A soft applause broke out as Sara was helped up by Greg and Warrick.

Nick had quickly made his way down off of the roof and round to the back of the house to see how Sara was doing. He jogged round the corner to the crowd that had formed and stood with Grissom. Sara slowly made her way out.

"Sara," Grissom called, "I think under the circumstances it would be best if you went back to the lab for the time being." And with that, he walked away to finish processing the house leaving Nick and Sara together.

Sara immediately hit Nick across the chest and acted upset.

Nick however, bought none of the act she was putting on and wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a bear hug, "you can thank me later."

"Don't think you can talk your way out of this one Stokes. You owe me, you owe me big time!"

Nick loosened his grip and as he walked off he called back to her, "I'll see you back at the lab Sara."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It had been 5 hours since Sara had been sent back to the lab and by this time she had processed what little evidence she had bought back with her. She was sat in the break room on the couch flicking through a forensic journal as she heard footsteps and people entering the room. Nick, Cath, Warrick and Greg all came in grabbing cups of coffee before they sat down – Warrick & Cath opposite Sara, Greg in the chair next to her and Nick beside her on the couch.

Nick smirked as he looked at her, "we thought we would just _drop_ in to see how you were doing and let you know we were back."

Sara threw a glare in his direction as Warrick spoke, "I suppose you've just been _hanging_ around doing nothing waiting for us?"

Another glare was shot at Warrick but her lips twitched up slightly despite her trying to hide it.

Cath shook her head at the pair of guys who were now smirking like kids in a candy store, "stop _stringing_ her along you two."

Sara was now looking at the three of them unable to keep her smile concealed any longer, "ha ha," her tone was decisively sarcastic, "you lot are just so funny. Now if you excuse me I'm going to go and get started on the prints from the roof."

She stood up and made her way out the door as Greg called after her, "No need to get _strung_ up about it!"

Nick followed her almost immediately as she turned into the locker room so she could put her jacket in her locker. Just as she closed her locker door Nick appeared in the doorway.

Sara stared at him for a minute before he walked in and stood in front of her, "how could you let me go like that? I was hanging off of a building; I could have missed that net! If that was you, would you have wanted me to drop you?" she continued talking not giving Nick a chance to answer, "I didn't think so. You owe me big time Stokes. I still can't believe you…"

Before she could get out another word Nick had stepped so there bodies were flush against each other and dipped his head down capturing her lips with his in a chaste kiss.

All coherent thoughts vanished from Sara's mind and it only took her a few seconds to realize what was happening and by that time Nick had pulled away.

"What…" Sara's voice trailed off.

Nick smirked as he looked at her, "You wouldn't stop talking." He stood for a minute before continuing, "I'm sorry I dropped you, but you honestly couldn't think I was going to hold you forever? Besides, this has given me a reason to take you to dinner. I'll pick you up at 7."

Nick turned on his heel and made his way out back to the break room leaving Sara to stand and process what had just happened.


End file.
